Filipino Popular Tales Part 24

Another bird announces the imprisonment of the beautiful Aglea in a tower on an island in the aegean Sea. She is guarded by a serpent. The second brother builds a swift ship, in which all three sail to the island. There the first brother climbs the tower, rescues Aglea, and plunders all the serpent's treasure. With the wealth and the lady the three return. A dispute now arises as to which brother has the best claim over her. The matter is left undecided by the story-teller.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Basile, working very likely on oral tradition, and independent of Straparola (with whose work he does not appear to have been acquainted), gives another version, "Pentamerone," v, 7:--

Pacione, a poor father, sends his five good-for-nothing sons out into the world for one year to learn a craft. They return at the appointed time. During the year the eldest son has learned thieving; the second has learned boat-building; the third, how to shoot with the cross-bow; the fourth has learned of an herb that will cause the dead to rise; the fifth has learned the language of birds. While the five sons are eating with their father, the youngest son hears sparrows saying that a ghoul has stolen the princess, daughter of the King of Autogolfo. The father suggests that his five sons go to her rescue. So a boat is built, the princess is stolen from the ghoul, the ghoul pursues and is blinded by a shot from the bow, the princess falls in a dead faint and is restored by the life-giving herb. After the five brothers have returned the princess to her father, they dispute as to who did the greatest deed of prowess, so as to be worthy of being her husband. Her father the king decides the dispute by giving his daughter to Pacione, because he is the parent-stem of all these branches.

Benfey thinks that the brother who knows of the life-restoring herb is an original addition of Basile's or of his immediate source; but this character is to be found in the cycle from earliest times (see "Vetalapancavincati," No. 2; and "Siddhi-Kur," No. 13).

The story is next found as a Marchen pretty well scattered throughout Europe. German, Russian, Bohemian, Italian, Greek, and Serbian forms are known (see Benfey's article, and Grimm's notes to No. 129). We may examine briefly six interesting versions not mentioned by Benfey or Grimm:--

Greek (Von Hahn, No. 47).--A king with three sons wishes to marry off the eldest. He seeks a suitable wife for the prince; but when she is found and brought to the court, she is so beautiful, that all three brothers want her. To decide their dispute, the king, on advice, sends them abroad, promising the hand of the princess to the one who shall bring back the most valuable article. The three brothers set out; they separate at Adrianople, agreeing to meet there again at an appointed time. On his travels, the eldest buys a telescope through which he can see anything he wishes to see. The second buys an orange that will restore to life the dying if the sick person but smells of the fruit. The third buys a magic transportation-carpet. They all meet as agreed. By means of the telescope one of the brothers learns that the princess is dying. The magic carpet carries them all home instantaneously, and the orange cures the maiden. A quarrel arises as to which brother deserves her hand. The king, unable to decide, marries her himself.

Bohemian (Waldau [Prag, 1860], "Das Weise Urteil").--In this there are three rival brothers. One has a magic mirror; another, a magic chariot; and the third, three magic apples. The first finds out that the lady is desperately ill; the second takes himself and his rivals to her; and the third restores her to health. A dispute arising, an old man decides that the third brother should have her, as his apples were consumed as medicine, while the other two still have their chariot and mirror respectively. (Compare the decision in the Georgian folk-tale under type II.)

Serbian (Mme. Mijatovies, 230 ff., "The Three Suitors").--Three n.o.blemen seek the hand of a princess. As the king cannot make a choice, he says to the three, "Go travel about the world. The one who brings home the most remarkable thing shall be my son-in-law." As in the Greek story, one gets a transportation-carpet; another, a magic telescope; and the third, a wonder-working ointment that will cure all diseases and even bring the dead to life. The three n.o.blemen meet, learn through the telescope of the princess's mortal illness, and, hastening to her side with the help of the magic carpet, cure her with the ointment. A dispute arises as to which suitor shall have her. The king decides that each has as good a claim as the others, and persuades all to give up the idea of marrying the princess. They do so, go to a far-off desert, and become hermits, while the king marries his daughter to another n.o.ble. The story does not end here, but thus much is all we are interested in.

Italian Tyrolese (Schneller, No. 14, "Die Drei Liebhaber").--This story is like Von Hahn, No. 47. The magic objects are an apple, a chair, and a mirror. In the magic mirror the three suitors see the bride on the point of death. They are carried to her in the magic chair, and she is saved by means of the apple. The story ends as a riddle: Who married the maiden?

Icelandic (Rittershaus, No. XLIII, "Die drei Freier um eine Braut").--This story, which closely follows the "1001 Nights" version and is probably derived from it, agrees in the first part with Von Hahn, No. 47. When a folk-tribunal is called to decide which brother most deserves the princess and is unable to agree, the king proposes another test,--a shooting-match. The princess is to be given to the one who can shoot his arrow the farthest. The youngest really wins; but, as his arrow goes out of sight and cannot be found, the princess is given to the second brother. From this point on, the adventures of the hero are derived from another cycle that does not belong with our group.

Icelandic (Rittershaus, No. XLII, "Die Kunstreichen Bruder").--Although this story is very different from any of ours, I call attention to it here because Dr. Rittershaus says (p. 181) that in it we have, "in allerdings verwischter Form, das Marchen von 'der Menschen mit den wunderbaren Eigenschaften,'" and she refers to Benfey's "Ausland" article. The collector states, however, that the story is so different from the other Marchen belonging to this family, that no further parallels can be adduced. As a matter of fact, this Icelandic story is a combination of the "Skilful Companions" cycle with the "Child and the Hand" cycle. For this combined Marchen, see Kittredge, "Arthur and Gorlagon," 222-227.

It might be noted, in pa.s.sing, that a connection between this type of the "Rival Brothers" and the "Skilful Companions" cycle is established through Gonzenbach's Sicilian story of "The Seven Brothers who had Magic Articles," No. 45. (See Kohler's notes to this tale and also to No. 74; to Widter-Wolf, No. 6 [Jahrb. f. rom. und eng. lit., VII]; and to V. Tagic, No. 46 [Kohler-Bolte, 438-440].)

I have not attempted to give an exhaustive bibliographical account of this cycle of the "Rival Brothers," but have merely suggested points that seem to me particularly significant in its history and development. So far as our four Filipino examples are concerned, I think that it is perfectly clear that in their present form, at least, they have been derived from Europe. There is so much divergence among them, however, and they are so widely separated from one another geographically, that it would be fruitless to search for a common ancestor of the four.

The Ilocano story is the best in outline, and is fairly close to Grimm, No. 129, though there are only three brothers in the Filipino tale, and there is no skill contest held by the mother before the youths set out to rescue the princess. The all-seeing telescope and the clever thief, however, are found in both. The solution at the end is the same: the king keeps his daughter, and divides half a kingdom among her rescuers.

The Pangasinan tale has obviously been garbled. The use of two magic articles with properties so nearly the same, the taking ship by the three brothers when they had a transportation-mat at their service, and finally the inhuman decision of the king, [49]--all suggest either a confusion of stories, or a contamination of old native a.n.a.logies, or crude manufacture on the part of some narrator. It may be remarked, however, that the life-restoring book is a.n.a.logous to the magic book in "Vetalapancavincati," No. 2, while the repairing of the shattered ship by means of the magic stones suggests the st.i.tching-together of the planks in Grimm, No. 129. The setting appears to be modern.

In the first Tagalog story (c) the three men are not brothers. They are given the magic objects as a reward for kindness. The sentimental denouement reads somewhat smug and strained after all three men have been represented as equally kind-hearted. The shooting-contest with arrows to decide the question, however, may be reminiscent of the "1001 Nights" version. For the resuscitating flute in droll stories, see Bolte-Polivka's notes to Grimm, No. 61 (episode G1). The book of knowledge suggests the magic book in the Pangasinan version.

TALE 13

THE RICH AND THE POOR.

Narrated by Jose L. Gomez, a Tagalog from Rizal province.

Once upon a time there lived in the town of Pasig two honest men who were intimate friends. They were called Mayaman [50] and Mahirap, [51] because one was much richer than the other.

One pleasant afternoon these two men made up their minds to take a long walk into the neighboring woods. Here, while they were talking happily about their respective fortunes, they saw in the distance a poor wood-cutter, who was very busy cutting and collecting f.a.gots for sale. This wood-cutter lived in a mean cottage on the outskirts of a little town on the opposite sh.o.r.e of the lake, and he maintained his family by selling pieces of wood gathered from this forest.

When they saw the poor man, Mayaman said to his friend, "Now, which one of us can make that wood-cutter rich?"

"Well, even though I am much poorer than you," said Mahirap, "I can make him rich with just the few cents I have in my pocket."

They agreed, however, that Mayaman should be the first to try to make the poor man rich. So Mayaman called out to the wood-cutter, and said, "Do you want to be rich, my good man?"

"Certainly, master, I should like to be rich, so that my family might not want anything," said the wood-cutter.

Pointing to his large house in the distance, Mayaman said, "All right. Come to my house this evening on your way home, and I will give you four bags of my money. If you don't become rich on them, come back, and I will give you some more."

The wood-cutter was overjoyed at his good luck, and in the evening went to Mayaman's house, where he received the money. He placed the bags in the bottom of his banca, [52] and sailed home. When he reached his little cottage, he spread out all the gold and silver money on the floor. He was delighted at possessing such wealth, and determined first of all to buy household articles with it; but some dishonest neighbors, soon finding out that the wood-cutter had much money in the house, secretly stole the bags.

Then the wood-cutter, remembering the rich man's promise, hastily prepared his banca and sailed across to Pasig. When Mayaman saw the wood-cutter, he said, "Are you rich now, my good man?"

"O kind master!" said the wood-cutter, "I am not yet rich, for some one stole my bags of money."

"Well, here are four more bags. See that you take better care of them."

The wood-cutter reached home safely with this new wealth; but unfortunately it was stolen, too, during the night.

Three more times he went to Mayaman, and every time received four bags of money; but every time was it stolen from him by his neighbors.

Finally, on his sixth application, Mayaman did not give the wood-cutter money, but presented him with a beautiful ring. "This ring will preserve you from harm," he said, "and will give you everything you ask for. With it you can become the richest man in town; but be careful not to lose it!"

While the wood-cutter was sailing home that evening, he thought he would try the ring by asking it for some food. So he said, "Beautiful ring, give me food! for I am hungry." In an instant twelve different kinds of food appeared in his banca, and he ate heartily. But after he had eaten, the wind calmed down: so he said to the ring, "O beautiful ring! blow my banca very hard, so that I may reach home quickly." He had no sooner spoken than the wind rose suddenly. The sail and mast of his little boat were blown away, and the banca itself sank. Forgetting all about his ring, the unfortunate man had to swim for his life. He reached the sh.o.r.e safely, but was greatly distressed to find that he had lost his valuable ring. So he decided to go back to Mayaman and tell him all about his loss.

The next day he borrowed a banca and sailed to Pasig; but when Mayaman had heard his story, he said, "My good man, I have nothing more to give you." Then Mayaman turned to his friend Mahirap, and said, "It is your turn now, Mahirap. See what you can do for this poor man to enrich him." Mahirap gave the poor wood-cutter five centavos,--all he had in his pocket,--and told him to go to the market and buy a fish with it for his supper.

The wood-cutter was disappointed at receiving so small an amount, and sailed homeward in a very downcast mood; but when he arrived at his town, he went straight to the market. As he was walking around the fish-stalls, he saw a very fine fat fish. So he said to the tendera, [53] "How much must I pay for that fat fish?"

"Well, five centavos is all I'll ask you for it," said she.

"Oh, I have only five centavos; and if I give them all to you, I shall have no money to buy rice with. So please let me have the fish for three!" said the wood-cutter. But the tendera refused to sell the fish for three centavos; and the wood-cutter was obliged to give all his money for it, for the fish was so fine and fat that he could not leave it.

When he went home and opened the fish to clean it, what do you suppose he found inside? Why, no other thing than the precious ring he had lost in the lake! He was so rejoiced at getting back his treasure, that he walked up and down the streets, talking out loud to his ring:--

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!

I have found you now; You are here, and nowhere else."

When his neighbors who had stolen his bags of money from him heard these words, they thought that the wood-cutter had found out that they were the thieves, and was addressing these words to them. They ran up to him with all the bags of money, and said, "O wood-cutter! pardon us for our misdoings! Here are all the bags of money that we stole from you."

With his money and the ring, the wood-cutter soon became the richest man in his town. He lived happily with his wife the rest of his days, and left a large heritage to his children.

So Mahirap, with five centavos only, succeeded in making the wood-cutter rich.